5 Exercises for Your Middle Back (Demo Videos)

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Tone your middle back with these helpful workouts.

These exercises require a variety of equipment.

Watch demonstration videos to learn how to perform them correctly.

It can be easy to forget about your middle back muscles until you feel any kind of tension or pain from poor posture or strain. But even if we don’t think about them, these muscles are an essential part of everyday movements, and it’s important to keep them strong. Thankfully we’re here to tell you how! Check out the videos below, read the steps, and give these five workouts a try.

#1 – Bent-Over Row

The bent-over row is a barbell exercise that not only strengthens a weak upper back, but also helps you improve deadlifts. You’ll actually start this exercise in a deadlift position. While bent, keep your hips a little high and your back straight, and use a pronated grip to lift the barbell toward your chest and back down without shifting position.

Tony Gentilcore explains more of the ins and outs of this workout in the video below:

#2 – Reverse Fly

The reverse fly is a dumbbell exercise similar to the previous workout, in that it also involves a bent-over posture with hips high. Keep your back straight with soft knees, and let your arms hang with dumbbells in hand. Then simultaneously lift each dumbbell out to each side and back down again, keeping your posture steady.

#3 – Machine Reverse Fly

For the machine reverse fly, sit upright, instead of bending over the ground like before. Gripping the handles of the machine, push each handle out to the sides of your body and back in again. Make sure to keep your chest and abs flush with the upright bench.

#4 – Resistance Band Pull-Apart

For the resistance band pull-apart, hold a resistance band at chest level — arms straight in front of you. Pull the band tightly by spreading your arms out to your side to where the band touches your chest, and then move back to starting position.

Every time you spread your arms, the band should be tight across your chest. Every time your arms come back, the band should be loose again. Several reps in, you should, of course, start to feel a burn in your back and most likely in your shoulders and forearms, too.

#5 – Wide-Grip Pull-Up

A pull-up may sound like old news, but it’s a timeless exercise that gets the job done for your lats, shoulders, and more. The wide-grip pull-up requires, well, a wide grip at the pull-up bar, which means six to eight inches wider than your shoulder width. So, if your go-to pull-up involves the basic arm position, change things up with this wide-grip version, and see if you can feel a difference!

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